Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁵ Thus says the Lord: Cursed [with great evil] is the strong man who trusts in and relies on frail man, making weak [human] flesh his arm, and whose mind and heart turn aside from the Lord.

⁶ For he shall be like a shrub or a person naked and destitute in the desert; and he shall not see any good come, but shall dwell in the parched places in the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.

⁷ [Most] blessed is the man who believes in, trusts in, and relies on the Lord, and whose hope and confidence the Lord is.

⁸ For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters that spreads out its roots by the river; and it shall not see and fear when heat comes; but its leaf shall be green. It shall not be anxious and full of care in the year of drought, nor shall it cease yielding fruit.

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly perverse and corrupt and severely, mortally sick! Who can know it [perceive, understand, be acquainted with his own heart and mind]?^(A)

¹⁰ I the Lord search the mind, I try the heart, even to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.

Book One

Psalm 1^[a]

¹ Blessed (happy, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather.

² But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night.^(A)

³ And he shall be like a tree firmly planted [and tended] by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper [and come to maturity].^(B)

⁴ Not so the wicked [those disobedient and living without God are not so]. But they are like the chaff [worthless, dead, without substance] which the wind drives away.

⁵ Therefore the wicked [those disobedient and living without God] shall not stand [justified] in the judgment, nor ^[b]sinners in the congregation of the righteous [those who are upright and in right standing with God].

⁶ For the Lord knows and is fully acquainted with the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly [those living outside God’s will] shall perish (end in ruin and come to nought).

¹² But now if Christ (the Messiah) is preached as raised from the dead, how is it that some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

¹³ But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not risen;

¹⁴ And if Christ has not risen, then our preaching is in vain [it amounts to nothing] and your faith is devoid of truth and is fruitless (without effect, empty, imaginary, and unfounded).

¹⁵ We are even discovered to be misrepresenting God, for we testified of Him that He raised Christ, Whom He did not raise in case it is true that the dead are not raised.

¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised;

¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is mere delusion [futile, fruitless], and you are still in your sins [under the control and penalty of sin];

¹⁸ And further, those who have died in [^[a]spiritual fellowship and union with] Christ have perished (are lost)!

¹⁹ If we who are [abiding] in Christ have hope only in this life and that is all, then we are of all people most miserable and to be pitied.

²⁰ But the fact is that Christ (the Messiah) has been raised from the dead, and He became the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep [in death].

¹⁷ And Jesus came down with them and took His stand on a level spot, with a great crowd of His disciples and a vast throng of people from all over Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to listen to Him and to be cured of their diseases—

¹⁸ Even those who were disturbed and troubled with unclean spirits, and they were being healed [also].

¹⁹ And all the multitude were seeking to touch Him, for healing power was all the while going forth from Him and curing them all [^[a]saving them from severe illnesses or calamities].

²⁰ And solemnly lifting up His eyes on His disciples, He said: Blessed (happy—^[b]with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, apart from your outward condition—and ^[c]to be envied) are you poor and ^[d]lowly and afflicted (destitute of wealth, influence, position, and honor), for the kingdom of God is yours!

²¹ Blessed (happy—^[e]with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, apart from your outward condition—and ^[f]to be envied) are you who hunger and seek with eager desire now, for you shall be filled and completely satisfied! Blessed (happy—^[g]with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, apart from your outward condition—and ^[h]to be envied) are you who weep and sob now, for you shall laugh!

²² Blessed (happy—^[i]with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, apart from your outward condition—and ^[j]to be envied) are you when people despise (hate) you, and when they exclude and excommunicate you [as disreputable] and revile and denounce you and defame and cast out and spurn your name as evil (wicked) on account of the Son of Man.

²³ Rejoice and be glad at such a time and exult and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is rich and great and strong and intense and abundant in heaven; for even so their forefathers treated the prophets.

²⁴ But woe to (alas for) you who are rich (^[k]abounding in material resources), for you already are receiving your consolation (the solace and sense of strengthening and cheer that come from prosperity) and have taken and enjoyed your comfort in full [having nothing left to be awarded you].

²⁵ Woe to (alas for) you who are full now (completely filled, luxuriously gorged and satiated), for you shall hunger and suffer want! Woe to (alas for) you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep and wail!

²⁶ Woe to (alas for) you when everyone speaks fairly and handsomely of you and praises you, for even so their forefathers did to the false prophets.